Sunday, November 24, 2013

WTJ Armored Cruisers - WK Project # 8

Here's a couple of armored cruisers which I recently finished. First up is the Infanta Maria Teresa which was sunk by the US navy in 1898, will be rechristened for the navy of Vavarde in the game. I have to say that WTJ has done a great job with these 1/1500, but I think this particular model is not quite a home run, the low freeboard gives her kind of a squashed look, at least to my eyes.

Then again, perhaps it's accurate, but it seems to me that a small model looks better off exaggerating the freeboard on the high side over appearing to ride low in the water. In any case, I shimmed the hull with a base of 0.5mm styrene.

Next we have a Gloire class armored cruiser. As squat and ungainly as a lot of the French pre-dreads look to modern viewers, the same features on a hull stretched to armored cruiser proportions make for a considerably more elegant ship. I use mostly Vallejo acrylic paints for these ships.

I am now working on soldiers at the moment and hope to have something to show for it before too long.

8 comments:

Cpl TrimFine looking vessels. I ilk the look of your modified Teresa. The low freeboard is likely correct to scale, but that doesn't always translate to looking correct.What did you use for masts?CheersPD

I use the brass wire from Detail Associates, they come in packs of 1' length. Most of these ships have pre-formed holes for the masts, but not all. That's when the pin vise and micro drill bits come into play. To secure the upper mast to the lower, I often fit them in a sleeve created by drilled through a short section of styrene tubing.

The cruisers look lovely, and I approve of the higher freeboard too! I tend to build my own 1/1500 scratchbuilds a little high in the water myself. I've been thinking about buying from WTJ to save time for a while and your article has decided it for me!I'd also like to mention that I'm a fan of your older scratchbuilds too, and the Austrian battleships made me want to sweep my efforts into the bin! Keep up the great work.

The cruisers look lovely, and I approve of the higher freeboard too! I tend to build my own 1/1500 scratchbuilds a little high in the water myself. I've been thinking about buying from WTJ to save time for a while and your article has decided it for me!I'd also like to mention that I'm a fan of your older scratchbuilds too, and the Austrian battleships made me want to sweep my efforts into the bin! Keep up the great work.

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About Me

My name is Steve Cady. My vocation is manufacturing operations, currently in the medical device industry. But I've been a history buff since childhood and very fond of painting military miniatures. I'm also a big fan of the Daisenryaku video games.